Mike Taylor, a graduate of North Side High School in Jackson, Tennessee, was a football team captain, MVP and a member of the AAA all-state team. Taylor was an all-state football player for North Side when the Indians were still in Class AAA. At UT- Martin Taylor was a four-year starter and named Offensive Player of the game against Austin Peay. He started 44 consecutive games for UT-Martin and was selected to the UT-Martin Hall of Fame. Taylor is also a member of the Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame.
Taylor began his career as a football official with the Northwest Tennessee Officials Association and later joined the Ohio Valley Conference in 1993. In the six years with the OVC, he worked numerous NCAA Division I-AA playoff games including two national semifinals. As a Southeastern Conference official, he worked 18 post season assignments including the National Championship in 2005, five SEC championship games, five BCS games and numerous bowl games. Two memorable regular season games he officiated were the “Blue Grass Miracle” and the 2013 Iron Bowl. In the Blue Grass Miracle, Louisiana State University beat the University of Kentucky on a Hail Mary pass play at the end of the game and In the 2013 Iron Bowl, the University of Alabama attempted a game-winning field goal with no time remaining on the clock, but an Auburn University player caught the ball in the end zone and returned it for a game-winning 100-yard touchdown return for the Tigers. Mike and his late wife Jerrie have two sons, Michael Taylor II, a freshman on the Ole Miss Football team, and Cade Taylor, a freshman at University School of Jackson.